The War – Day 18 (Part 1)

We had mentioned earlier that the Mahabharata war lasted for eighteen days. The final day of battle had arrived. So many veterans were already killed by then. Let us remember that Bhishma was still alive on a bed of arrows in the battle field. He could die at will and had decided to wait for the setting of the winter solstice when the sun would start on its northward journey (UttaraayaNa). That was considered to be the auspicious time to die. Drona and Jayadratha were already killed in earlier battles. So were many other great warriors on the Kaurava side. The entire suicide army of the Trigarthas was annihilated single handedly by Arjuna. Finally, Karna also had fallen fighting a heroic battle against his arch enemy. Abhimnyu and Ghatotkacha were the prominent heroes on the Pandava side who sacrificed their lives to get justice done to their parents.

Along with these great warriors thousands of soldiers, elephants and horses had also perished on the battle ground.

Salya

As we know, Salya was the king of Madra and the uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva. He had started with a division (Akshauhini) of army to join the Pandavas, even without their asking. The Pandavas, on their part, had taken his support for granted. But, Duryodhana had cleverly managed to mislead him on the way and got his commitment to join the Kauravas.

Salya had felt unhappy about his word given to Duryodhana against his own conscience. He had gone straight to the Pandavas to report the unexpected turn of events. The Pandavas, then, got a promise from their uncle that he would demoralize Karna on the day of his crucial battle against Arjuna. Salya did keep his word and criticized Karna for his boastfulness on the day he faced Arjuna.

Yet, it was a different Salya whom we see as the battle progressed. He got fully committed to the Kaurava side, guiding Karna on crucial issues.

When the war took place Salya was already an old man.

The new commander of the Kaurava army

The death of Karna was a big blow to the entire Kaurava army. For Duryodhana, he lost his best friend and the greatest warrior. Both Bhishma and Drona, warriors of much greater calibre, were known to have a soft corner for the Pandavas.

With the death of Karna the Kauravas found themselves without a leader. The entire army panicked and started fleeing in all directions. Duryodhana tried his best, but, without success.

Kripa, the first teacher of the Kauravas and Pandavas, tried to persuade Duryodhana to stop the fight and make peace with the Pandavas. But, the Kaurava was too proud to beg for peace. He would rather die fighting.

It was then that Aswatthama suggested that they install Salya as the new commander of the army. Duryodhana was pleased with the idea and approached the Madra king. Salya took it as an acknowledgement of his skills and accepted the challenge. He promised that he would fight until the entire Pandavas were annihilated or to his own end.

Yudhishthira with Krishna

Yudhishthira heard the news and approached Krishna for guidance. Krishna said. “I know the king of Madra well. Do not take him lightly. In his true form he can be a threat to all of us. I suggest that the time of reckoning has come for you. Take on Salya yourselves. Kill him without delay forgetting that he is your uncle”.

The war on the eighteenth day

The war started on the final day with renewed hopes on the Kaurava side. There were so many individual battles that day that won the admiration from the onlookers. The fight of Nakula against the sons of Karna was one such. The Pandava killed the three sons of Karna who opposed him at the end of a fierce fight.

Meanwhile, the Kaurava army marched ahead under the command of Salya. Bhimasena stood on the way and challenged the king of Madra for a duel. The two fought using maces for a long time. Bhima had already established himself as formidable with his mace. Only when the battle progressed that the old king showed that he was a power to reckon with. The two fought so fiercely that at one point both fell down losing conscience.

There were similar battles fought valiantly by Arjuna against Aswatthama and Dhrishtadyumna against Duryodhana.

Salya against Yudhishthira

Salya found that his army was getting thrashed by the Pandavas and had started to run helter skelter. He wanted to set an example by leading from the front and asked his charioteer to drive straight where Yudhishthira stood. The Kaurava army took heart by the move and returned slowly to face the enemies.

The Pandavas made a combined attack against the Kaurava commander. But, Salya was in a formidable form that day. He faced the veteran Pandavas all alone. Everyone was astonished to watch Salya in a form that was never to be seen before.

A fierce battle took place between Yudhishthira and Salya. They fought equally for a while. The old king appeared to be winning at some point. The Pandava prince remembered the words of Krishna at that moment. That gave him renewed strength to face his enemy with determination. Yudhishthira pulled out a javelin from his chest of weapons and launched it against his enemy with all his energy. The weapon pierced through the armour of Salya. The old king was holding his hands high at that moment with weapons to be launched against his enemy. He fell down dead with his hand raised hands.

Yudhishthira also killed the brother of Salya who came forward immediately to take revenge.

The remaining Kaurava army fled in all directions. The sun had just reached the middle of the sky at that time.

(To be continued)